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83rd OREGON LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY--2025 Regular Session
A-Engrossed
Senate Bill 139
Ordered by the Senate April 7
Including Senate Amendments dated April 7
Sponsored by Senator PATTERSON (Presession filed.)
SUMMARY
The following summary is not prepared by the sponsors of the measure and is not a part of the body thereof subject
to consideration by the Legislative Assembly. It is an editor’s brief statement of the essential features of the
measure. The statement includes a measure digest written in compliance with applicable readability standards.
Digest: This Act lets sharps and waste pharmaceuticals be mixed in the same container,
if some conditions are met. (Flesch Readability Score: 66.3).
[Digest: This Act lets sharps and other solid waste be mixed in the same container, if some con-
ditions are met. (Flesch Readability Score: 76.2).]
Permits sharps and [other solid waste] waste pharmaceuticals to be consolidated in a single
container, subject to certain requirements. [Modifies requirements for sharps containers.]
A BILL FOR AN ACT
Relating to infectious waste; amending ORS 459.386, 459.390 and 459.395.
Be It Enacted by the People of the State of Oregon:
SECTION 1. ORS 459.386 is amended to read:
459.386. As used in ORS 459.386 to 459.405:
(1) “Biological waste” includes blood and blood products, excretions, exudates, secretions,
suctionings and other body fluids that cannot be directly discarded into a municipal sewer system,
and waste materials saturated with blood or body fluids, but does not include diapers soiled with
urine or feces.
(2) “Cultures and stocks” includes etiologic agents and associated biologicals, including speci-
men cultures and dishes and devices used to transfer, inoculate and mix cultures, wastes from pro-
duction of biologicals, and serums and discarded live and attenuatedvaccines. “Cultures and
stocks” does not include throat and urine cultures.
(3) “Disposal” means the final placement of treated infectious waste in a disposal site operating
under a permit issued by a state or federal agency.
(4) “Infectious waste” includes biological waste, cultures and stocks, pathological waste and
sharps.
(5)(a) “Pathological waste” includes:
(A) Biopsy materials and all human tissues;
(B) Anatomical parts that emanate from surgeries, autopsies and obstetrical and laboratory
procedures;and
(C) Animal carcasses exposed to pathogens in research and the bedding and other waste from
such animals.
(b) “Pathological waste” does not include teeth or formaldehyde or other preservative agents.
(6) “Sharps” includes needles, IV tubing with needles attached, scalpel blades, lancets, glass
tubes that could be broken during handling and syringes that have been removed from their original
NOTE:Matter in boldfaced type in an amended section is new; matter [italic and bracketed] is existing law to be omitted.
New sections are in boldfaced type.
LC 1028 A-Eng. SB 139
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sterilecontainers.
(7) “Storage” means the temporary containment of infectious waste in a manner that does not
constitute treatment or disposal of such waste.
(8) “Transportation” means the movement of infectious waste from the point of generation over
a public highway to any intermediate point or to the point of final treatment.
(9) “Treatment” means incineration, sterilization or other method, technique or process ap-
proved by the Oregon Health Authority that changes the character or composition of any infectious
waste so as to render the waste noninfectious.
(10) “Waste pharmaceuticals” means discarded pharmaceuticals that are not:
(a) Hazardous waste, as defined in ORS 466.005;
(b) Radioactive waste, as defined in ORS 469.300; or
(c) A radioactive substance, as defined in ORS 453.005.
SECTION 2. ORS 459.390 is amended to read:
459.390. (1)(a) Except as provided in paragraph (b) of this subsection, infectious waste shall
be segregated from other wastes by separate containment at the point of generation.
(b) A person may consolidate sharps and waste pharmaceuticals into a single container,
which may be reusable, provided that:
(A) The container satisfies the requirements of subsection (3) of this section; and
(B) The entire contents of the container are managed as infectious waste in accordance
with ORS 459.386 to 459.405.
(c) Enclosures used for storage of infectious waste shall be secured to prevent access by unau-
thorized persons and shall be marked with prominent warning signs.
(2) Infectious waste, except for sharps, shall be contained in disposable red plastic bags or con-
tainers made of other materials impervious to moisture and strong enough to prevent ripping, tear-
ing or bursting under normal conditions of use. The bags or containers shall be closed to prevent
leakage or expulsion of solid or liquid wastes during storage, collection or transportation.
(3)(a) Sharps shall be contained for storage, collection, transportation and disposal in leakproof,
rigid, puncture-resistant red containers that are taped closed or tightly lidded to prevent loss of the
contents. Sharps may be stored in such containers for more than seven days.
(b) Sharps consolidated with waste pharmaceuticals shall be contained for storage, col-
lection, transportation and disposal in leakproof, rigid, puncture-resistant and tightly lidded
containers that are a distinctive color other than red and conspicuously labeled with the
international biohazard symbol. Sharps consolidated with waste pharmaceuticals may be
stored in such containers for more than seven days.
(4) All bags, boxes or other containers for infectious waste and rigid containers of discarded
sharps shall be clearly identified as containing infectious waste.
(5) Infectious waste shall be stored at temperatures and only for times established by rules of
the Oregon Health Authority.
(6) Infectious waste shall not be compacted before treatment and shall not be placed for col-
lection, storage or transportation in a portable or mobile trash compactor.
(7) Infectious waste contained in disposable bags as specified in this section shall be placed for
collection, storage, handling or transportation in a disposable or reusable pail, carton, box, drum,
dumpster, portable bin or similar container.The container shall have a tight-fitting cover and be
kept clean and in good repair. The container may be of any color and shall be conspicuously labeled
with the international biohazard symbol and the words “Biomedical Waste” on the sides so as to
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be readily visible from any lateral direction when the container is upright.
(8) Each time a reusable container for infectious waste is emptied, the container shall be thor-
oughly washed and decontaminated unless the surfaces of the container have been protected from
contamination by a disposable red liner, bag or other device removed with the waste.
(9) Trash chutes shall not be used to transfer infectious waste between locations where it is
contained or stored.
(10) Generators that produce 50 pounds or less of infectious waste in any calendar month shall
be exempt from the specific requirements of subsections (5), (7) and (8) of this section.
SECTION 3. ORS 459.395 is amended to read:
459.395. (1) Pathological wastes shall be treated by incineration in an incinerator that provides
complete combustion of waste to carbonized or mineralized ash. The ash shall be disposed of as
provided in rules adopted by the Environmental Quality Commission. However, if the Department
of Environmental Quality determines that incineration is not reasonably available within a
wasteshed, pathological wastes may be disposed of in the same manner provided for cultures and
stocks.
(2) Cultures and stocks shall be incinerated as described in subsection (1) of this section or
sterilized by other means prescribed by Oregon Health Authority rule. Sterilized waste may be dis-
posed of in a permitted land disposal site if it is not otherwise classified as hazardous waste.
(3) Liquid or soluble semisolid biological wastes may be discharged into a sewage treatment
system that provides secondary treatment of waste.
(4)(a) Sharps and biological wastes may be incinerated as described in subsection (1) of this
section or sterilized by other means prescribed by authority rule. Sharps may be disposed of in a
permitted land disposal site only if the sharps are in containers as required in ORS 459.390 (3) and
are placed in a segregated area of the landfill.
(b) Sharps consolidated with waste pharmaceuticals shall be treated by incineration in
an incinerator that provides complete combustion of waste to carbonized or mineralized ash.
(5) Other methods of treatment and disposal may be approved by rule of the commission.
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